(1) Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to pulling wires or conductors through a conduit. In the electrical construction industry which employs electrical systems involving underground wiring for utilities, wiring in elevators, wiring in buildings and the like, a frequent operation involves pulling conductors or insulated wires through a conduit such as a pipe, duct, raceway, etc. In such applications, quite often there are a series of drops or, in other words, one or more conductors are generally required to be dropped off or added on at certain points or junctions along a conduit, etc.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the past, conductors or insulated wires were pulled through a conduit by stripping part of the insulation off of the end of a plurality of conductors and bending the exposed wires into loops or eyes and then inserting the hook portion of a fish tape into the loops. In order to prevent the loops from opening while being pulled through the conduit, the ends of the exposed wires are taped to the adjacent conductors. As a result, the area where the exposed wire ends and conductors are taped together become quite bulky which results in the possibility of getting stuck or hanging up inside the conduit. This possibility is further increased if the conductors must go through bends or curves in the path of the conduit, as is frequently the case. It is also apparent that if there are a series of conduits wherein one or more conductors are to be dropped off or added on at certain points or junctions, the tape must be removed to release the selected conductors and then the above process repeated with the remaining conductors. A still further problem is that if someone is pushing the conductors to aid the person pulling the fish tape and the push is greater than the pull, the loops may become disengaged from the hook of the fish tape thus causing more time delay in retrieving the conductors and starting over again. Additionally, the hook of the fish tape must extend a considerable length in order to properly engage the loops which causes the problem of the hook itself getting stuck in the conduit. Also, the prior art fish tapes have coils which eliminate the necessity of taping by allowing winding of the wires around the coils; however, the prior art devices are not adapted to be used with conductors of heavy gauge and do not solve all of the problems associated with pulling conductors.